Hardening-machine



C. C n IACKMAN AND R. S. SQUIRE.

HARDENING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 24, I919.

Patented Feb. 1, 1921.

amina ATTORNEYS.

c. c. JACKMAN AND R. s. SQUIRE.

HARDENING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 24,1919.

1,367,049. Patented Feb. 1, 21.

2 SHEETS-SH BY I F #744 v ATTORNEYS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHESTER O. JACKMAN AND RAYMOND S. SQUIRE, 0F SFRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS,ASSIGNORS TO VICTOR SAW WORKS, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, A TRUSTASSOCIATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

HARDENING-MAGHINE. r

T 0 all whom it may concern.

Be it known that we, CHns'rnn JACK- MAN and RAYMoNo S. S UIRn, citizensof the United States of America, residing at Springfield, in the countyof Hampden and State. of Massachusetts, have invented certan new anduseful Improvements in Hardening-Machines, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to improvements in machines forperforming ahardening operation, or an analogous operation, such as a temperingoperation, for example, on small and relatively thin articles.

Machines for this general purpose have been used heretofore and manyexamples will be found in the prior art. Commonly, these machines are ofthe type wherein the articles to be hardened are linked together inchain formation and pass successively through the heatingandquenchingmeans,

with the major faces of the articles disposed substantially in ahorizontal plane. In these machines, there results a heating of the en-.tire article to that temperature, at which it will be hardened whenquenched, and the articles therefore are generally of the same hardnessthroughout. In many instances, as with saw blades, knife blades and thelike, it is desired to have the back of the blade of less hardness thanthe cutting edge and the prior machines generally are not suited forthis purpose.

This invention has for an object to provide a machine, wherein the thinarticles to be treated may be passed on edge successively past theheating and quenching means and wherein guiding means are provided tohold the thinarticles in upright relation, the

guiding means arranged to prevent warping ot the articles and at thesame time to protect portions thereof from the full action of theheating means.

The invention has for another object to provide in a machine of thecharacter described, feeding means to carry the articles in closesuccession past the heating and quenching means, without necessitatingthe linking and subseqent de-linking of the articles in and from chainformation,--the machine therefore being suitable for articles, which donot have perforations, or other means, permitting them to be joinedsuccessively together.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 1, 1921.

Application filed February 24, 1919. Serial No. 278,903.

A further object of the invention is to provide in a machine of theclass described, an arrangement such that a plurality of rows ofarticles may be simultaneously propelled past the heating and quenchingmeans by a single feeding means.

Another object of the invention is'to provide, in a machine of the classdescribed, a heating means which is effective simultaneously upon agroup of articles arranged side by side in adjacent relation, theheating means being characterized by special construction whereby allthe articles, whether on the inside'or outside of the group, are

heated with substantial uniformity.

A further object of the invention is to provide in a machine, of thecharacter described, generally simplified and improved mechanicalstructure.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following descriptionand in the illustrative embodiment of the invention in the accompanyingdrawings, in which Figure 1 is a sectionalelevational view of a machineembodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan view thereof A Fig. 3 is a perspective viewillustrative of the adjustable mounting of the feeding means; I

Fig. 4 is a partial cross sectional view of the bed of the machine andillustrates the guiding means; and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged elevational view of a detail shown in Fig. 2/ iReferring to these drawings, the machine includes a bed or table A,which is suitably supported upon two spaced side frames B.

Above the bed A, a suitable heating means,

indicated generally by C, is provided and, adjacent the heating means,is a quenching means, indicated generally by D. Articles a to behardened, such as the saws illustrated or any other relatively smallarticles, are ar- 1, extend from one end of bed A to'the other.

c, in which the articles may be positioned and by which they may beguided in their travel. The shape of these grooves would. of

course, be made suitable in each instance to the work in hand and theshape, chosen for the present illustrative example, is made suitable forflat, thin articles such as saw blades or the like. The grooves c are ofsuch depth that only the upper portions of the articles are exposed.Thus, when the articles are hack saws, the grooves may be made as shownin Fig. 1, so that only the toothed edge portions are exposed, although,obviously the depth of the grooves may be varied according to theparticular class of work in hand.

The means for feedin the articles longitudinally of the bed A Wlll nowbe described. Such means includes at least one flexible driving memberand, preferably, two driving members are provided, one on each side ofthe bed A. As illustrated, the driving members consist of sprocketchains 10, which are trained over sprockets 11, one pair at each end ofbed A, so that the upper laps of the chains travel arallel with theupper surface of bed A. elow the latter other sprockets are provided foreach chain 11. Thus, a pair of driving sprockets 12 are fixed to a shaft13, which may be driven from a suitable source of.power by any suitshownin able means. Idler sprockets 14 are provided for the purposeof-keeping the chains 10 under sufliclent tension at all times. Theidler sprockets 14 are mounted upon a shaft 15, which in-turn issupported by the free ends of a gair of levers 16 (one of which is ig.1). The levers 16 are suitably pivoted to frames B and tend to movedownwardly under the action of a weight 17. which is suspended fromshaft 15. Thus, as

the chains 10-e2pand under the heat of the 'heatingmeans the idlersprockets 14 are forced downwardly to tighten the chains. Any othersuitable means may be provided for this purpose.

The two chains 10'travel in spaced paral: lel relation, one on each sideof the group of bars I), and are supported by the bed A. At intervalsalong the chains 10 cross bars 18 are provided which extend transverselyacross and above bars I) and are secured at their ends to the chains.Preferably, the cross bars 18 are removably secured to the latter topermit adjustment of the longitudinal space between successive bars andthus accommodate articles of varying length. As shown, the chains 10 areof the block type (Fig. 3) and each block, as 10, has secured thereto anupstanding pin 19. The cross bars 18 are made of flat bars, the ends ofwhich'are given a quarter turn bend, so that I such ends he parallel tothe chain, while the intermediate portions are substantially verticallydisposed. To such ends of has 18, blocks 20 are secured and a verticalhole is provided through each block, and the end of bar 18 therebelow toreceive pins 19. It will be seen that the bars 18 may be lifted fromcertain pins 19 and applied to other pins to change the spacing betweenthe bars.

referably, although not necessarily, the blocks 20 are removably securedto pins J5) by set screws 21 which are threaded horizontally into theblocks to bear against the pins 19. The intermediate portions of thecross bars 18 overlie the bars 6 in closely adjacent, if not quitecontiguous relation, so

ing means is of a character particularly adapted for large production,inasmuch as a very great number of articles may be fed by a singlefeeding means.

The heating means C may, according to most features of the invention, beconstructed as desired. In the drawings, there has been shown a burner,which consists simply of a hollow rectangular box 22. Such box issuspended from a cross bar 25 (Fig. 1) by bolts 26, which pass looselytherethrougi and have nuts 27 on their upper ends to engage the crossbar. The cross bar 25 is supported by a pair of laterally spacedbrackets 28 which are secured in upstanding relation to bed A. Byturning the nuts 27 the burner 22 may be raised or lowered with respectto the path of the articles a. in an obvious manner. The burner 22 issupplied with a suitable medium sueh for example, as gas and air. Thus,gas is admitted by a pipe 29 (Fig. 2) and air by a pipe 30, the twopipes constituting a well known burner arrangement. The heating flameissues through a series of holes 31 (Fig. 2) formed in the bottom wallof box 22 and is thus directed downwardly upon the articles travelingtherebeneath.

Adjacent the heating means C, but beyond the latter in the direction oftravel of articles a, the quenching means D is provided. Such meansconsists of a nozzle 32, the outlet of which is directed downwardly u onthe articles a and which is spread later-Ely as shown in Fig. 2, tooverlie allthe grooves c. This nozzle 32 is connected to a supply pipe33, which is angularly adjustable in a bracket 34 secured in upstandingrelation to bed A. By swinging the pipe upon its axis in bracket 34:,the outlet of nozzle 32 may be raised and lowered with respect to thepath of travel of articles a. A pipe 35, connected at one end to pipe33, extends downwardly and is connected at its other end to the outletend of a suitable pump, such as the gear ump 36, conventionally shown inFig. 1.

ump 36is driven by a chain 37 and suitable sprockets from the driveshaft 13 above described. The inlet of pump 36 is connected to the lowerpart of a tank 38, which is suitably suspended below bed A with its openupper end closely adjacent the latter. Thus, a suitable quenchingmedium, say oil for example, may be forced from tank 38 through thepipes 35 and 33 to issue from the nozzle 32 upon the articles ontraveling therebeneath. The oil, thus delivered upon the articles flowsback into the tank 38 by way of openings 39 provided in bed A above thetank, as shown in Fig. 1. j j

The heating means C, above described, is especially constructed touniformly heat all the articles. The articles a, in or near the outsiderows, are naturally exposed to some extent to the cooling influence ofthe adjacent air, while the articles, in or near the central rows, arenot so exposed. Therefore, unless special means are provided, the artiicles in. or near the central rows would become heated to a higher degreethan those.

in or near the outside rows. To provide for uniform heating, the holes31, above described, are arranged in several (six as shown) transverserows and in certain rows, as those to the rear of the burners (1n thedirection of travel of articles a), holes are omitted near the centralportion of therows, for the articles of all rows are here subjectedsubstantially equally to the action of the cooling means. The specificstructure described will serve as an illustrative example of one way ofobtaining the desired uniform heating and, obviously, other types ofburners may be made to effect the same result. Obviously, also thenumber of rows of holes and the number of'holes per row may be varied asdesired and we do notv intend, therefore,'to limit ourselves to the onespecific arrangement described for effecting the desired result ofuniform heatin ofarticles, which are passed side by side in grouprelation beneath a heating means.

' Preferably also, means are provided to hold the articles against thebottoms of their grooves during their travel past the heating means C orthe quenching means D. Thus, one or more rolls 40, desirably two, asshown in Fig. 1 are arranged one adjacentthe rear side of the heatingmeans and one adjacent the forward side of the quenching means.

Each roll 40 extends transversely across all down portions 43 of theroll and serve to limit the downward travel of the roll.

Flanges 44,,on the ends of the rolls 40, co-

operate with shoulders 45 thereon to limit the endwise play of the rollby engagement with the members 42 and 41, respectively.

At the delivery end of bed A an inclined chute 46 is provided, intowhich the articles a fall and along which they slide into a. suitablereceptacle 47 The articles a are moved by bars 18 until slightly morethan half their lengths are projected beyond the forward edge of bed A,at which'time they tip on such edge and fall into the chute 4G and sliderapidly therealong and into receptacle 47 in time to permit the passageof the cross bars 18.,

The operation of the'machine will largely appear from the foregoingdescription. It is to be noted, however, that the articles are not fullyexposed to the action of the heating means C. That is, the lowerportions of the articles are protected and shielded from the heatingflame by the bars 6, which cover the major portion of the sides of thearticles, leaving only the upper edge exposed.

This is most desirable, where the articles saw blades, the toothed edgeonly is leftexposed and this edge only is hardened.

The feeding means disclosed is especially suited to quantit productionand is, withal.

of simple and e cient character. As many rows of articles may be'simultaneoustv fed by the heating means, as desired, and practically theonly limitation to the type of feeding means is the capacity (Jr theoperator'in feedlng the articles mto the grooves The feeding meansismost desirable, 1

since it does notde end upon arranging the articles in chain ormationand therefore can be used with articles, such as could not be handled inthe so-called chain type of machine. Moreover, the necessity forlinking, or otherwise connecting successive articles-together, isdispensed with as well as the mechanism usually provided to subsequentlydisconnect the articles.

The invention has been disclosed herein in a single illustrativeembodiment and it is recognized that many modifications may be made inthe specific structure disclosed, iavmg for thelrpb 'ect the use of theinvention 1n a form difl'erm'g from that herein (llS- closed. It istherefore desired to have the I scope of the invention determined by theappended claims interpreted by the spirit of the present disclosurerather than by the letter of the exact form disclosed.

What we claim is 1. The combination, with a heating and a quenchingmeans, of guiding means along which a plurality of rows of articles maybe moved to the heating and quenching means, and a single feedingmechanism to simultaneously move the articles of all said rows andincluding a series of members each adapted to simultaneously engage andmove one article of each of the several rows.

2. In a machine of the class described, a heating and a quenching means,a support along which a series of separate and unattached-articles maybe moved and successively carried to the heating and quenching means,feeding mechanism to separately move each article along the support, andmeans to guide the articles laterally in their travel, each guidingmeans affording a groove to receive the articles and leave only aportionof each fully exposed to the heating means.

3. In a machine of the class described, a heating means, a quenchingmeans, a table having a series of tracks along which a plurality of roWsof articles may be moved to the heating and quenching means, a membermovable along the table at one side of the tracks and having a series ofbars each extending across the tracks and adapted to simultaneouslyengage one article of each row.

4. In a'machine of the class described, a

heating means, a quenching means, a table having a series of tracksalong which a plurality of rows of articles may be moved to the heatingand quenching means, a flexible driving member movable along each sideof the table, and a series of cross bars the ends of which are attachedto said members and the intermediate portions of which are arranged tosimultaneously engage one article of each row. 5. In a machine of theclass described, a heating means, a quenching means, a table having aseries of tracks along which a plurality of rows of articles may bemoved to the heating and quenching means, a flexible drivingmember-movable along each side of the table, a series of pins at spacedintervals along and upstanding from said members, and a-series of crossbars, the ends of which are removably secured to certain of said pins,said cross bars arranged to simultaneously engage one article in eachrow and adapted tobe secured .to other of said pins when desired, toadjust the machine for articles of varying length.

6. In a machine of the class described, a heating means, a quenchingmeans, a support having a plurality of grooves therein to receive aplurality of rows of fiat thin articles and guide them on edge to theheating and quenching means, said grooves being of less depth than thewidth of the articles so that parts thereof are fully exposed and otherparts arc protected from the action of the heating means, and meansengageable with one artic of each row to move the articles along saidsupport.

7. In a machine of the class described, a heating means, a quenchingmeans, a support having a plurality of grooves therein to receive aplurality of rows of flat thin articles and guide them on edge to theheating and quenching means, said grooves being of less depth than thewidth of the articles so that parts thereofare fully exposed and otherparts are protected from the action of the heating means, and means tomove the articles along said support, and including a series oftransverse members each engageable with one article of each row, saidmembers engaging the articles below the tops of their exposed edges.

8. In a machine of the class described, a heating means, a quenchingmeans, a support having a plurality of grooves therein to receive aplurality of rows of flat thin articles and guide them on edge to theheating and quenchin means, said grooves being of less depth t an thewidth of the articles so that parts thereof are fully exposed edges ofsaid articles, and feeding means tor the articles including transversemembers each engageable with one articleof each row.

9. In a machine of the class described, a heating means, a quenchingmeans, a support having a plurality of grooves there n to receive aplurality of rows of flat thin articles and guide them on edge to theheating and quenching means, said grooves being of less depth than thewidth of the articles so that parts thereof are fully exposed and otherparts are protected from the action of the heating means, one 0r m0rerolls extending transversely across said support and arrangedto rideuponthe exposed edges of said articles, feeding means for the articlesincluding transverse members each engageable with one article of eachrow, and means.to limit the movement of said rolls toward the articles.v

10. In a machine of the class described, a heating means, and means tosimultaneously move a group of articles side by side past the heatingmeans, the latter arranged to heat all the articles of the group withsubstantial uniformity irrespective of their and being of less widthnear the center of the group than along the edges thereof.

12. In a machine of the class described, a heating means, means to movea group of articles side by side past the heating means,

and means closely adjacent the heating means to deliver a quenchingmedium upon the articles, the heating surface of said means beingbounded on one side by a substantially straight line across the path oftravel of the articles adjacent the quenching means and onthe oppositeside by two lines which converge in the, direction of travel of thearticles. u

13. In a machine of the class described, a heating means, means to-movea group of articles side by side past the heating means,

and means closely adjacent the heating means to deliver a quenchingmedium upon the articles, the heatm means comprising a burner having aplura ity of rows of holes,

I the rows extending across the path of travel of the articles and therebeing less holes in the path of travel of the inner than in the path ofthe outer articles of the group.

14:. In a machine of the class described, a heating means, a quenchingmeans, and

means to simultaneously carry a plurality of' rows of flat thin articleson edge past the heating and quenching means.

15. In a machine of the class described, a heating means, a quenchingmeans, and means to carry a plurality of rows of fiat thin articles onedge successively past the heating and quenching means and to protectthe articles exceept for one edge from the I full action of the heatingmeans.

16.. In a machine of the class described, a

heating means, a support having aseries of longitudinal grooves in whichrows of articles may travel to and beyond said'means, flexible drivingmembers along each side of the table, the upper lap of said membersbeing parallel with said support and the members returning with theirlower laps beneath the support, cross bars mounted at their ends on saidmembers at spaced intervals therealong and each arranged to en age onearticle of each row, and an incline delivery chute at one end of saidsupport onto which the articles are carried by said bars after leavingthe heating means.

17. In a machine of the class described, a heating means, a quenchingmeans, a table having a series of tracks along which a plurality of rowsof articles may be moved to the heating and quenching means, a flexibledriving member movable along each side of the table, and a seriesOfCIOSS bars the ends of which are attached to said members and theintermediate portions of which are arranged to simultaneously engage onearticle of each row, and means permitting the heating means to be movedtoward or away from the table.

18. In a machine of the class described, a heating means, a quenchingmeans, a table having a series of tracks along which a plurality of rowsof articles may be moved to the heating and quenching means, a membermovable along the table at one side of the tracks and having a series ofbars each ex tending across the tracks and adapted to CHESTER c.JACKMAN. RAYMOND s. SQUIRE.

